Ambling Management Company

Getting to the future first┬áThrough the recruitment and training of high-quality staffÔÇöand investment in technologyÔÇöAmbling Management Company is building its reputation as an innovative, effective and forward-looking property management company, Ruari McCallion reports. If you happen to see a crowd of people energetically laying siege to the Atlanta headquarters of Ambling Management Company, donÔÇÖt be concerned that itÔÇÖs another open audition for Tyra BanksÔÇÖ ÔÇ£Next Top ModelÔÇØ TV reality show.   ItÔÇÖs more likely to be enthusiastic applicants for any employment vacancy that Ambling may have advertised. It doesnÔÇÖt take long for good news about its personnel strategy to get outÔÇöespecially the non-monetary rewards.ÔÇ£We took 400 of our people on a cruise to Grand Cayman and Jamaica last year,ÔÇØ says Kim Barkwell, president of Ambling Management Company. ÔÇ£We work hard, and thereÔÇÖs a lot of passion in the organization. We have a lot of fun, too; we believe in rewarding our people. If you donÔÇÖt have the right people, you wonÔÇÖt make it.ÔÇØAmbling Management Company is one of the most successful and experienced managers of residential housing in the US, and certainly in its operating region in the Southeast. Its portfolio includes over $2 billion in assets, including 23,000 student beds, affordable apartment homes, independent living communities, conventional homes and off-base military housing. It oversees the operations of 204 residential apartment communities altogether, 127 of which are fee-managed and the rest directly owned. When Barkwell joined Ambling in 2003, the company managed only student properties that were owned or developed by AmblingÔÇÖs development arm and a small portfolio of affordable and conventional properties owned by Ambling Property Investments. The management operation grew quickly over the next few years, from a small part of the organization to the largest, in terms of personnel, and a significant revenue earner.ÔÇ£To provide our clients with expertise in all areas of property management, we established several new internal strategic services departments, including professional development, compliance, property software support, national purchasing, marketing and creative services, as well as an assessment and recovery team,ÔÇØ Barkwell says. ÔÇ£We have also purchased another management company and portfolios of properties and now have a geographical presence from Texas eastward. Our portfolio currently extends from Washington DC to Lansing, Michigan, and Dallas, Texas, to Florida. We work closely with universities, banking institutions and private developers in building and extending our business. Of Ambling CompaniesÔÇÖ 1,100 employees, 860 are in the management company, working hard at generating over $200 million a year. But there are other management companies around; how does Ambling differentiate itself?ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve tried very hard to set ourselves apart in a number of areas,ÔÇØ Barkwell says. ÔÇ£We acquired the most efficient and automated property management software system we could find. For example, weÔÇÖre able to process rent checks through our scanners; payments are then posted up to our management system and automatically banked.ÔÇØ Ambling didnÔÇÖt buy a system off the shelf that did everything it wantedÔÇöthere was nothing available on the market that would cope with everything from student residents to affordable housing. ÔÇ£We partnered with RealPage to develop the software we actually need,ÔÇØ Barkwell says. One of the specific challenges was student housing. ÔÇ£There is no other residential housing sector where you move in 800 people during one day, so we realized we needed something new. We also helped develop the compliance software on our affordable side.ÔÇØ Whatever else may occur to the mind, the power and efficiency of AmblingÔÇÖs IT system should not be underestimated.ÔÇ£The software developers worked out the check-transfer system with the banks. Money is moved the same day the check is scanned.ÔÇØ Try getting that from your banking service.Students in Ambling-managed communities will appreciate another aspect, which marks the company as a 21st-century business. Just about every student on campus has a cell phone, and they will all use them for texting. So does Ambling.ÔÇ£Students can text us on our specified property reference code and in an instant they will receive pricing, floor plans, pictures, and virtual tours along with a follow-up text from our employees,ÔÇØ Barkwell says. With emergencies and incidents like the shootings at Virginia Tech too fresh in the mind, Ambling has also adapted the system for emergency purposes. ÔÇ£We can use the same program to notify students, immediately and simultaneously, of any impending concerns.ÔÇØTechnology is great, but on its own it means nothing. ItÔÇÖs people who make it come to life, and people are at the heart of Ambling Management Company. It makes sure it starts off with the best through a rigorous recruitment strategy, and then it makes them better with industry-leading training and professional development programs. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve tripled the size of the organization in three years. All our recruits have been hand-picked,ÔÇØ Barkwell says. ÔÇ£We seek out people who can hit the ground running and quickly assimilate them through our induction, marketing and training programs. We hire based on the ÔÇ£top gradingÔÇØ method; we only hire A-players, and we quickly eliminate the Bs and Cs, as our people are our reputation. Our culture only allows those individuals who believe in our purpose, practices and leadership to be a part of the organization. We do not take our business of providing homes to people lightly, as it is a huge responsibility. We want people who are happy to be here and happy to service our customers. We do not have to teach our people to smile.ÔÇØAmbling hires only people with the right experience and especially those with the right spirit. To ensure that new employees start out on the right foot and continue to grow, Ambling associates attend Ambling University, which provides both online and instructor-led training in all facets of property management.Innovation and forward thinking are dominant company features. Not content with its current advanced IT setup, and in keeping with its green initiatives, Ambling looks forward to going completely paper-free over the next 12 months. And thatÔÇÖs not the only development on the horizon.ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre open to everything in technology, especially since the majority of marketing and resident communications are now taking place online,ÔÇØ says Barkwell. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre holding a management and leadership conference this year, with the theme carpe ma├▒anaÔÇöÔÇÿseize tomorrowÔÇÖ. We want to stay ahead of our competition, so itÔÇÖs important that we get the fundamentals down. From there, we can see into the future and make sure we are there first.ÔÇØ ÔÇô Editorial research by Joe Louis┬á